A Question of Changing
by RipperShipper
Summary: Angela Turner has some very important questions for her mummy. Set early season 7! This is a response to a lovely prompt from NikkiStKilda!


**A Question of Changing**

 **Summary:** Angela Turner has some very important questions for her mummy. Set early season 7! This is a response to a lovely prompt from NikkiStKilda! Thank you so much for the prompt and I hope you like the fic!

 **A/N:** This isn't really Turnadette, so I'm not putting it in "Prompts of Turnadette", but that will return shortly!

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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While hiring an au pair had definitely been the right choice for her family, Shelagh loved Magda's day off. It was rare now that she got to spend the entire day alone with her little ones. She treasured the time she spent with her entire family, but she did have to admit that she missed the hours alone with Teddy and Angela. There was something magical about watching their innocent minds take in the world. She loved hearing Angela babble on and on about her faerie dreams and she loved watching Teddy's eyes light up at the everyday wonders of Poplar.

More than anything, she loved teaching Angela how to be a big sister. It was thrilling with Tim as well, but Tim already had a working knowledge of babies by the time Angela came around, so Shelagh didn't have as big a part to play in their growing relationship. Angela, however, was brand new to babies, being hardly out of infancy herself, and Shelagh delighted in encouraging her daughter's curiosity.

The first week or two of Teddy's life, Angela had been confused and more than a little put-out. Not only were her mummy and daddy thoroughly distracted by this new, smelly, noisy doll, but she wasn't even allowed to play with it. It took time and a lot of quality time with Shelagh, but Angela eventually accepted that her new brother wasn't a doll and was in fact, a small human being that she needed to take very special care of. Once that acceptance was born, Shelagh and Patrick were relieved to find that Angela wanted to help with every aspect of Teddy - a fact that hugely entertained them and Timothy. Angela was frequently annoyed that she couldn't feed her baby brother, which led to more conversations about breastfeeding than Tim ever wanted to hear, but still, he had to admit his sister was hilariously tenacious.

That afternoon, Shelagh was taking advantage of her eldest son's absence and feeding Teddy on the couch rather than retreating to her bedroom. As usual, when she sat down, Angela stopped playing with her cooking set and pulled herself up on the couch beside her mum to watch. Shelagh smiled lovingly at her little girl and stroked Teddy's head as he suckled.

"Baby eat so much." Angela observed, staring at Teddy. Shelagh laughed gently.

"Yes, babies have to eat a lot." she explained. "Teddy can't eat solid food yet like you and Timothy, so he needs to have lots of smaller meals throughout the day."

"Oh." Angela seemed to accept this explanation. "Mummy?"

"Yes, dear?" Shelagh encouraged, ever happy to answer her daughter's questions.

"I eat so much?" she asked, reaching out to touch Teddy's foot as it wriggled.

"When you were a baby?" Shelagh asked to clarify. Angela nodded her head. "Absolutely. You loved to eat, and we all loved feeding you." Shelagh realized what she said and prayed Angela wouldn't pick up on her word choice after she'd spent so long telling Angela that she was the only one who could feed Teddy. Luckily, Angela didn't seem to notice the slip or didn't care enough to question it.

"Mummy, park later?" Angela asked, moving on as though they'd been talking about the park all along. She certainly knew what she wanted at any given moment.

"I think the park sounds lovely, angel girl." Shelagh agreed. "I just need to finish feeding your brother and get him changed before we can go."

"I help?" Angela eagerly asked. If she couldn't feed Teddy, perhaps she could help dress him?

"I suppose you can, darling, yes." Shelagh laughed as she consented. Angela hopped off the couch. "Not yet! He has to finish feeding first!" Shelagh called out, but it was too late. Angela was on her way to the nursery. Shelagh smiled.

"Sometimes, your sister is too ambitious for her own good." Shelagh remarked to Teddy. " _I wonder where she picked that up from, Shelagh…"_ She thought wryly to herself. Between herself, Patrick, and Tim, it was a wonder Angela wasn't already working shifts at the surgery.

Eventually, Shelagh made her way upstairs, bouncing her baby boy as she went. Angela greeted her in the nursery with a familiar look of impatience.

"Mummy takes forever." she sighed. Shelagh gave her daughter a look that quickly toned down her sass - a look that Patrick couldn't master and was extremely jealous of - and put Teddy on the changing table.

"Now, if you're done being cheeky, young madame, why don't you pick out an outfit for Teddy?" Shelagh offered. Angela couldn't physically dress Teddy, but that didn't mean she couldn't be included.

Angela hurried to the dresser and, much to Shelagh's delight, picked out one of the soft, baby blue outfits on top instead of rummaging through the entire collection and causing an unfolded mess.

"This one!" she declared definitively.

"I think that's a lovely choice!" Shelagh agreed. She reached down to take it from Angela, but the little Turner clung tight.

"I want help." she explained.

Shelagh thought for a moment, but eventually gave in and lifted Angela up to sit on the changing table. Her intention was so pure and Shelagh couldn't help it. Angela nearly changed her mind after she was placed next to her brother, however.

"Baby stinky." she wrinkled her tiny nose.

Shelagh sniffed him and immediately realized he needed a nappy changing as well.

"Well we can fix that." Shelagh replied cheerily. "Can you hand me a clean nappy from the pile behind you?"

Angela smiled again, thrilled at being asked to help, and handed the clean cloth to her mum.

"Now, we just get rid of the dirty nappy." Shelagh explained as she worked. "And clean him up a bit." Shelagh cleaned Teddy and looked up to see Angela staring at her brother, extremely confused.

"Angela? What is it?" Shelagh asked, looking between her children to try and figure it out.

"Why Teddy broke?" she asked, very concerned about her brother.

"Teddy isn't broken darling, what are you talking about?" Shelagh asked, just as confused as Angela.

"He's broke." she repeated, this time pointing to the part of Teddy she was referring to. Shelagh had to use all of her willpower not to laugh at her daughter.

"No, no, angel girl." Shelagh let a few giggles slip. "He's not broken, he's just different from you because he's a boy." Angela appeared not at all satisfied with that explanation. "Boys and girls are born different, you just can't always tell when they're babies because they look so similar. Boys and men have different bodies than girls and women. Just like Tim looks more like Daddy, when you grow up, you'll look more like me." Shelagh knew that wasn't entirely true, but the concept was. Angela would grow into a woman's body the same way Tim was quickly sprouting into a tall, broad shouldered gentleman.

"Oh." Angela pondered. "Daddy and Timmy like Teddy?" She asked innocently. Shelagh nearly snorted. Again, conceptually, Angela was correct, but she knew both her husband and son would be mortified if she said they were exactly like her youngest. She couldn't wait to tell Patrick about this conversation later. She tease him and then inevitably, he'd feel the need to prove to her that he was very much a grown man and not an infant boy and honestly, she couldn't wait to not stop him.

"Daddy and Timmy are like Teddy, yes." Shelagh barely got out without laughing. "And you are like me, darling."

Angela nodded and processed before declaring very seriously,

"Boys're broke."

Shelagh couldn't help it and she laughed heartily at Angela's wise words.

"They certainly can be, Angela, but we love them dearly in spite of it."

At dinner that night, when Patrick asked what they did that day, Angela very earnestly responded that she learned that Teddy, and Daddy, and Timmy are broke in their "secret place" and Patrick and Tim nearly choked on their water.

"Shelagh?!" Patrick gasped for air.

"She was helping me change Teddy and she was a bit confused. 'Broke' was her word, not mine." Shelagh giggled. "I tried to stand up for you, but I feel she's made up her mind that men are quite broken and confusing."

Tim still looked horribly embarrassed, but Patrick smiled at his daughter.

"You know what, as long as we can keep you that way through your teens, I don't mind being broken at all." he grinned.

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Hope you enjoyed this snippet of Turner life. 3


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